One of four food courts that were situated along Park Avenue during the Arts Fest.

As I walked to the Park Avenue Art Festival on Saturday, August 6th, I noticed many people heading in the same direction and a large number of parked cars along the way. I thought: “It looks as if I’m about to run into a very large crowd.” I was right. Sure enough, the entire length of Park Avenue was packed with hundreds of festival goers! I also noticed an entirely different atmosphere from other festivals I attended earlier this year. On Park Avenue, there was much more socializing that included house and lawn parties, couples and groups sitting at many sidewalk restaurants and the happy greetings as friends met and hugged among all the arts, crafts and delicious foods.

Some facts about the festival: it featured more than 250 artists and exhibitors from 22 states and Canada. Added fun was provided by many food vendors and musical groups on three stages. Only artists who created the items they exhibited and sold were qualified for this juried arts festival.

This year’s poster (and printed on t-shirts) is an imaginative view of local “Crescent Street” by Carol Acquilano. She is a local artist, known for her expressionist landscapes who has a studio in the Anderson Arts building in Rochester.

The producer of this year’s art festival, Jeff Springut, encouraged festival goers to stop and talk to exhibitors whot have innovative booths in order to learn how they create their offerings and to get to know them. I did just that when I saw John Pattenden’s “Patent Artwork” booth. His slogan is: “Bringing art to innovation and innovation to art.” By that, he means that he creates framed artworks of copies of patent certificates – either the entire certificate or careful images thereof – for actual recipients of the patents or fans of specific inventions. www.PatentArtwork.com

Another exhibitor was “The Sign Post.” www.thesignpost.com He will create or modify signs on aluminum plaques with his computer and, then, print out on vinyl the sign for adhering to the metal. He will do all this while you wait. Example: DANGER…NO PARKING FOR JOHN SMITH.

I didn’t get the chance to talk to Joy Bartel, the cartoonist from Corfu, New York, but I had fun watching the speed with which she drew clever, look-alike images of her customers. Another exhibitor was Derek Weaver – known as “Mr. Wiz” from Harper, Texas - who kept kids of all ages delighted with the bubbles he created. The wands for making the bubbles and the soap solutions could be bought right there to take home and make unlimited bubbles.. Finally, Art and Bonnie Leising from Haines City, Florida created attractive water displays with clever, copper garden sprayers. www.coppercreations.com

The Park Avenue Arts Fest ran on Saturday, August 6th and Sunday, August 7th. My guess is that all records for attendance were broken, thanks to the perfect weather, the enjoyable exhibits and food and the unique venue provided by the city-scape and the enthusiastic crowds.

The Penfield Players presented a "staged reading" of Joe Orton's "Loot" at Penfield's Community Center on June 30, 2016.

InspectorTruscott, played by Ron Dufort and Nurse Faye, played by Tina Hoffman.

L to r: Hal McLeavy, Nurse Fay McMahon and the father McLeavy.

What is a farce, you might ask? Well, think of a play where a character can deduce amazing facts from obscure clues, but he says he works for the Metropolitan Water Department. Or, a pretty nurse who – we are told – has killed or eliminated seven husbands. Or, a young crook who hides his loot in his mother’s coffin while her body keeps showing up in unlikely places.

All this makes it clear that this play uses low comic devices such as slapstick humor and ridiculous situations to tell the wacky story. In other words: a farce. On July 30th at 2 p.m., the Penfield Players presented this two-act play by English playwright, Joe Orton, in what is called a “staged reading” at the Penfield Community Center on Baird Road. The latter is a simplified, staged presentation where the actors stand in front of easels, reading their scripts just as the early radio plays used to be presented. Jerry Argetsinger was the director.

Elements of this play included shocking attitudes toward death and a low opinion of the morals of the police, so I was a bit surprised to learn that “Loot” was a hit in London and began production on Broadway in March, 1968. It won several awards and has been revived many times. Orton, the playwright, has had other major productions like “Entertaining Mr. Sloane” and the TV play “The Good and Faithful Servamt.”

The characters were McLeavy – he’s mourning his dead wife who is in the coffin. (McLeavy is played by Dean Amsler.)
Hal – McLeavy’s son who has no morals whatsoever. (Derek Schneider.)
Dennis – his buddy. (Gerald Gustav Owen.) He and Hal rob a bank.
Fay – The pretty nurse. (Tina Hoffman.) She was taking care of Mr. McLeavy’s wife.
Truscott – Is he a Water Inspector or a nasty, irritating police officer? (Ron Dufort.)
The narrator was Tony Eckel.

The play is set in the present day with action taking place in the McLeavy household in England.

The Penfield Players are a non-profit, community organization sponsored by the Penfield Recreation Department. The group is one of the oldest continuing theater groups in the Rochester area with more than 50 years of great performances. Anyone who has an interest in theater is welcome to join. Volunteers are always welcome. For more information, visit www.penfieldplayers.org

The next production will be “Murder Weapon” by Brian Clemens, the playwright who wrote the popular “The Avengers” British TV series. October 28 – November 12, 2016.

L to r: Town Supervisor, Tony LaFountain, and Band Leader, Mike Kornrich, as the party began.

The Mike Kornrich Band played "golden oldies" that had everyone tapping their toes.

Penfield Town Supervisor, Tony LaFountain, initiated the birthday celebration by recognizing Recreation Director, Chris Bilow and his team for putting this program together. Also recognized were the generous sponsors of this evening and the fun band of Mike Kornrich.

Director Bilow had written earlier about how special the summer months are and how the season seems to get shorter and shorter every year while the choices we are offered seem to increase. This birthday celebration was just one of those choices. Today’s Recreation staff, just as in years past (he wrote), continues to maintain the highest level of quality and commitment to our residents.

The weather at the Amphitheater was perfect, and groups of kids and grownups stood in line to purchase hot dogs, Italian sausages, hamburgers and beverages (one dollar each!) plus free popcorn and slushies. The music was provided by Mike Kornrich’s five-man band which belted out “swinging jazzy blues.”

The event took place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Penfield’s Amhpitheater and Kiwanis Stage on Saturday, July 23rd.

Coming up (both FREE):
“Saturday On Stage” on July 30 at 7 p.m. The Gap Mangione Big Band at the Amphitheater.Staged Reading of “Loot” by the Penfield Players on July 30 at 2 p.m. at the Penfield Community Center.

This Saturday, July 23rd, Penfield Recreation is celebrating its 60th birthday at the Amphitheater and Kiwanis Stage. They’re calling it a Birthday Bash and they’re going to set the calendar back by charging just a BUCK…one dollar… for hot dogs, Italian sausage, hamburgers and beverages. While supplies last, popcorn and slushies will be FREE. The food goes on sale at 6:00 pm and the music of the Mike Kornrich Band starts at 7:00 pm. Be sure to bring a chair and/or a blanket.

This event is giving me the opportunity to announce it ahead of time and, then, to enjoy the event and report on it after it’s over. The Mike Kornrich Band describes itself as a “Swingin’ Jazzy Blues” organization that plays standards including King of the Road, BadLeroy Brown, Blue Suede Shoes, All of Me and (for the kids, etc.) I’ve Been Working on the Railroad, Old MacDonald Had a Farm and Rock Around the Clock.

Prime Time Funk is a 10-piece powerhouse, horn-driven band. They performed on July 12th at Penfield's Amphitheater.

The evening of July 12th at Penfield’s Amphitheater was the first of four Cool Jazz Tuesdays. The music this evening was provided by the Prime Time Funk Rhythm and Blues Horn Band (as they call themselves). (See the end of this article for the remaining Cool Jazz Tuesdays dates and performing bands.)

For about 20 years, Prime Time Funk has played with some of the world’s most respected organizations, such as the Lionel Hampton Jazz Club in Paris, Earth Wind & Fire, The Temptations, The Average White Band and many others. They are currently recording their second CD which is a tribute to Ralph Ortiz.

It was fun to listen to the toe-tapping music, to watch the dancing couples drawn to the front of the stage and to see the smooth coordination of the performers. It’s obvious to me that Prime Time Funk’s vast experience playing to clubs, colleges, corporate functions, festivals, community events like the one we enjoyed at the Amphitheater, etc. has fused them so every move and note is memorized to deliver an exciting performance.

Once a year, Rochester’s historic Corn Hill neighborhood is transformed into a series of streets (nine of them) and white tents that is their Arts and Crafts Festival. This year, on July 9th and 10th, these streets were bordered by 375 arts and crafts vendors from all over the U.S. and Canada, plus much more. There were also the 8th annual Emerging Artists Expo (21 of them), the 4th Annual Fairy House Tour (75 all-natural, hand-made Fairy Houses), live music on four stages, a special Family Fun Zone and an amazing assortment of food and drink.

In addition to finding the perfect gift and/or item for the home, office or garden, the fun at any festival is to meet some of the artists. For example, I met Chloe Smith who was busy creating a large, colorful image on the pavement of a bird and flowers, using chalk pastels. She’s a free-lance artist who loves this kind of creativity plus doing murals, paintings and drawings whenever she can.

Emily Patton is one of the Emerging Artists and she creates large canvases using acrylic and oil paints. The paintings she displayed at the Festival showed female subjects who are all her friends. They get to help Emily by looking over the study photos and suggesting the best poses and treatments before the painting begins.

Nick Damiani is a talented potter and another Emerging Artist. He had nearly sold his inventory by the time I talked to him. He calls his enterprise: “Tough Mud Pottery” from the biblical passage (which I got off his business card): “You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our Potter; we are all the work of Your hands.” (Isaiah 64:8)

This group's acrobatics had people cheering all along the parade route.

This was the Honor Guard for one of the marching bands.

The Towpath Volunteers Fife and Drum.

Master of Ceremonies, Don Alhart (yellow shirt) was busy describing the various paraders as they want by.

One of the bands marches by Penfield's historic Four Corners.

It was Saturday, July 2nd as I listened to local broadcast celebrity, Don Alhart, announce the different groups that participated in the Independence Day Parade. Needless to say, the Town of Penfield was two days early with their parade since most towns and cities do their celebrating on July, 4th, also known as the Fourth of July and/or Independence Day

There’s always been a bit of a discussion over whether we should be celebrating on July 2nd or July 4th. Actually, the 13 colonies of England approved a resolution of independence on July 2nd, 1776 but Congress made the wording of the Declaration of Independence official on July 4th, 1776. I’m not sure why some historians dispute this date since John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin all wrote that they signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th – the day our nation was born.

As for this year’s parade, it was announced that the Penfield Fire Company (established in 1810) was the Parade Marshal and (as stated above) Don Alhart was the Master of Ceremonies. Among the paraders were the Penfield Fire Company Band, the Gates Keystone Club Police Pipes and Drums, Towpath Volunteers Fife and Drum, Downbeat Percussion and the Hit Men Brass Band. According to Alhart, the latter had special permission from the State Penitentiary System of participate.

Food, music (“Black Rabbit” and “Dog House”) and fireworks all took place at Harris Whalen Park from five to 10 pm.

This was a fun parade with lots of kids participating, friendly candidates for various offices, farm and fire fighting implements and a record amount of candy for the eager young people along the parade route. It was refreshing for me that the emphasis of the parade was NOT on military personnel and combat equipment. It was for families and a celebration of our freedom.

The new Qdoba Mexican Eats establishment has an assembly area where you can design your own taco or choose from their six special tacos like the Two-Timer Taco (with pulled pork) or their Mad Rancher Taco (with grilled chicken).

I think it’s great that my wife and I have such a great number of choices when it comes to deciding where to eat. Chinese?, Italian?, Japanese?, Thai?, Steak or Hamburgers?, Indian?, Mexican?. They’re all nearby. And I haven’t even listed Greek, German, Hungarian, Caribbean, etc. establishments.

Just down the road from where we live in Penfield, two new Mexican restaurants just opened: the Taqueria (on Bay Road) and Qdoba Mexican Eats (on the intersection of Bay Road and Empire Boulevard). My wife and I tried three soft tacos as take-out from the Taqueria’s menu and found that:
* Two tacos are enough for lunch for one person,
* all three tacos were delicious,
* and they came with some great complimentary tortilla chips.

A few days later, we tried three tacos as take-out from Qdoba.
*Their two tacos were also enough to fill up an adult,
* all three were very good and had ingredients that you could customize,
* and they DID NOT come with complimentary tortilla chips.

I was pleased to see that both new restaurants received some good publicity in the D&C, which I hope will boost their long-term success. The Taqueria is a local operation, owned by a Webster resident. The Qdoba (pronounced Q as in “KEW” and doba as in “CorDOBA”) is headquartered in Denver, Colorado. They have about 650 restaurants (corporate and franchise) in 47 states, including Washington, D.C. and Canada, they have been in business since 1995 and they are a wholly-owned subsidiary of “Jack in the Box.” They are especially proud of their 3-cheese queso (which is supposedly a secret formula) and the hand-mashed quacamole that are part of several of their tacos.

Of special interest: Patrons can always ask for more guacamole, fajita vegetables, 3-cheese queso and queso diablo for FREE. (No meats.)

Qdoba Mexican Eats is located at 1867 Empire Boulevard in Webster (right across the street from Baytown Plaza).
Phone No. (585) 670-8857.
Hours: Monday – Sunday, 11 am to 10 pm
You can sit in or take out.
They also do catering.
For more information, go to www.qdoba.com

Shadow Pines golf course is now closed. The Town of Penfield has placed a moratorium on all development plans for this property.

The Clark House used to be a popular restaurant on the Shadow Pines property.

On June 22, 2016, the Penfield community was invited to attend an information meeting on The Shadows' moratorium and future land use.

On the evening of June 22nd, Penfield residents had the opportunity to voice their opinions on the future land use of Shadow Pines and Shadow Lake golf courses (known as The Shadows). In early 2016, both properties were put on the market by their owner, leading to major concerns in Penfield as to who will purchase the property and what will be done with it. So, on March 23 of this year, the Penfield Town Board put a hold on any development on The Shadows (a moratorium) to allow time to study the use of this land and the inevitable impact that this will have on a lot of people and their lives.

On April 6th, the Penfield Town Board named a 23-person citizen advisory committee (known as the Moratorium Committee) to study all land use options, the impacts on Penfield residents, Town priorities and effects on the environment. Input from the community is important, and the public information meeting on June 22nd was an example of this data-gathering procedure. Town Supervisor, Tony LaFountain, moderated that meeting where a member of the Moratorium Committee spoke about the committee’s work to date and the public was invited to contribute their ideas and comments.

I attended that meeting and the speakers were not only emotional at times but there was a 100% consensus that The Shadows properties must be protected from irresponsible development. Example: One developer wants to build 255 new homes on the Shadow Pines land, which will impact traffic, the environment, quality of life, school taxes, etc.

One speaker emphasized that a healthy community must balance social, economic and environmental elements. Another speaker showed inconsistent zoning when it came to the Comprehensive Plan and the Dolomite Quarry, which is right in between the two Shadows. In 1966, he said, the Comprehensive Plan indicated that the Town had the right to set requirements on the quarry including a phase-out process. By 1984, he continued, the Plan had been changed to make Shadow Pines a buffer zone for the continuing operation of the quarry. The time is now to fix the zoning and the Master Plan, to have a referendum for the Town to purchase the land and to fund and maintain the open spaces.

In addition to the people who spoke at the meeting, everyone is welcome to make comments on the use of The Shadows. Submit your public comments using the ONLINE FORM (called the “Public Participation Form”) up to June 30th, which you can find at www.penfield.org All forms with valid name, address and email will be submitted to the Moratorium Committee who will respond with a confirmation email.

The new restaurant is located at 1205 Bay Road, near Wegmans and the Bay View YMCA.

Dave Jackson (in the picture) and his brother, Kevin, are the owners of the recently-opened Taqueria.

Dave Jackson (above). He and his family - brother, wife and two young daughters - spent three-and-a-half months totally renovating the restaurant, inside and out.

Near the border between Webster and Penfield is the new Bay Vista Taqueria – a Mexican-style restaurant that specializes in what I call the national food of Mexico: the TACO. The taco is a wrap that is usually made with a corn (maiz) tortilla that wraps around ingredients such as: pork (carnitas), chicken (pollo), shrimp (camaron), ground beef (carne molida), fish (pescado), etc. Then hot peppers, green or red sauce, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes can be added. As you can see, the taco (which can also be made with a flour (harina) wrap is a fun, tasty and nutritious way to enjoy a meal.

“We’re a neighborhood, quick service taco place, ” said Dave Jackson, who – with his brother, Kevin – owns the place. “We knew we wanted to focus the menu on tacos, Dave continued, “but we thought we needed to offer some additional choices to fit into what people in this area would love.”

The result is a menu that offers two basic soft corn tortillas: traditional and Americana, burritos, quesadillas and four salads. (Many fillings are available and you can switch to a flour tortilla.)

Dave emphasized that all items are made in-house with premium ingredients and local produce when in season. He uses dedicated fryers for his tortilla chips (which are excellent) and his battered cod to maintain fresh flavors. “We’re really proud of our staff of 12 people that is divided into Service people (front desk) and Kitchen (prep cooks, line cooks and dishwashers). This is not a one-person operation. Every single position is equally important. To work the long hours that they do, you’ve got to be dedicated and maintain a good attitude.”

Lou Singer has been blogging about Penfield life since January 2009. Readers may recognize Singer's name from his numerous cartoons published on the Democrat and Chronicle's opinion pages over the years. Singer, of Penfield, attended New York University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in science with a minor in journalism. In 2000, he earned a master's degree in liberal studies from SUNY Brockport.
He worked for 10 years at Western Electric (part of AT&T) as an equipment engineer (designing and installing telephone equipment), three years at Lightolier as a Technical Writer and Illustrator and 33 years at Xerox as a senior technical writer and editor. He was responsible for writing training materials, service manuals and operator instructions plus a quarterly technical magazine for Xerox Service Engineers around the world.